Swisher's HR helps Yankees take rubber match from Cubs

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Swisher hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning Sunday night, snapping a
tie and leading the Yankees to a 10-4 victory over the Cubs in the rubber
match of an interleague series at Wrigley Field.

After Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano singled off Sean Marshall (3-2),
Swisher looked at two high-and-outside pitches from Chris Carpenter before
drilling a fastball over the plate past the wall in right field.

It made a winner out of CC Sabathia and moved the Yankees to 8-2 in their last
10 games. They won the last two games of the series, improving to 8-2 in their
last 10 on the road.

Sabathia (9-4) was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the eighth. He gave up four
runs on eight hits and a walk, striking out three in seven good-enough innings
to improve to 18-7 in 39 career interleague starts, all against NL teams.

"It's not really hard when you got the offense that we have and you can really
believe that if you can stop it right here, we got a good chance of winning,"
said Sabathia. "Some other teams that you play on, it's tough. But with this
offense that we have and the guys we have in the lineup, if you can stop the
bleeding, you got a really good chance of winning the game."

Brett Gardner led the game off with a home run and Rodriguez had three hits,
three runs scored and an RBI for New York.

Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer for the Cubs, who fell to 6-14 in their
last 20 games. Starter Randy Wells gave up five hits, four walks and struck
out three in six innings, leaving with the game tied at 4-4 in a no-decision.

"It was a fun series to be a part of," said Wells. "We played so well, it's a
shame tonight ended like it did, because I thought we played some great
baseball."

Gardner fell behind 0-2 in his leadoff at-bat, but smacked a homer to right
field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of
the first when Reed Johnson led off with a double, went to third on Starlin
Castro's fly ball and scored on Jeff Baker's ground out.

Castro and Aramis Ramirez singled in front of Soriano's homer in the third
inning, which gave Chicago a 4-1 lead. Soriano's two-out blast -- a moon shot
that landed in the left field seats -- was his 14th of the season.

The Yankees scratched out two runs in the fourth inning on Swisher's RBI
single and Eduardo Nunez's bases-loaded grounder, which scored Cano from
third.

They added a run and tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth after Rodriguez led off
with a single, went to second on a ground out, moved to third on Swisher's
single and scored on Russell Martin's sacrifice fly to right field.

After Swisher's homer made it 7-4, David Robertson walked two Cubs with one
out in the bottom of the eighth. Soriano and Geovany Soto moved up on Carlos
Pena's ground out, but Robertson got pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt on a pop-up to
Rodriguez at third to end the inning.

Gardner led off the ninth with a double and scored on Curtis Granderson's
triple. James Russell was replaced by Rodrigo Lopez, who gave up back-to-back
doubles to Mark Teixeira and Rodriguez for two more runs.

Chicago put its first two runners on in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the
bases with two outs against Jeff Marquez, but couldn't score.

Game Notes

Sabathia has won 10 of his last 12 interleague decisions. He improved to 2-2
against the Cubs...Chicago finished 4-3 on a seven-game homestand...Ramirez
had four hits for the Cubs...Gardner, Rodriguez and Swisher combined for nine
of New York's 13 hits (three apiece).

Eduardo Nunez grounded into a fielder's choice to third scored Robinson Cano. On the play, Russell Martin advances to second and Nick Swisher out at third. Runners on first and second with two outs and CC Sabathia due up.